26 October 1994: update on Classical Studies/History 28

I've now written e-mail notes to every author of a paper that I have in
my possession: if you've not heard from me, let me know and we'll figure
out which end the problem is on. The papers were on balance not bad for
first efforts. The average grade was B (extreme range from D to A). How
to make them better? I'll say again what I said on the syllabus and
said to numerous of you: what I look for is *your* mind at work, not
just digesting and regurgitating, but seeking, probing, asking good
questions, thinking hard about how to get the answer, and expressing the
results clearly and interestingly. Digesting what the book you were
reading says and then spitting it back up again is something cows and
sheep do. A useful sort of skill at times in life, but not what you pay
the real $$ to come to Penn for.

Your comments on the forms yesterday were very helpful. Two adjustments
to program as a result. One, sometime this week, I will have up on the
server a set of brief outlines of all the lectures so far, and I will
continue to provide those. These will not be substitutes for being
there, but it will help you check your sense of what I'm getting at with
*my* sense of what I'm getting at. Comments welcome.

Second, if there was a theme on the reports it was that the reading
assignments were heavy. Now I have to be careful how I take this. After
all, no professor ever distributed these forms and got back a chorus of
remarks to the effect of, "Well, *gee*, I haven't got a *thing* to read,
and *you're* certainly not helping with all these powderpuff
assignments!" Yep, trust me, incredible as it may seem, it never
happens. There *is* a logic to the readings, that I want to emphasize:

1. Ammianus and Cassiodorus: take you back to the worlds we're talking
about, let you wander around in them, see lots of different neat stuff,
begin thinking about the issues they raise.

2. Roger Collins: he's the one to put order and direction and
structure
on the mass of other material in the course, including my lectures. Got
trouble with chronology etc.? Collins is your man.

3. Lane Fox/Boethius/Augustine: this is a period for reasons I've
already addressed and will be addressing again tomorrow in which religion
becomes a constitutive force in society; even as "religion" has played
less a part in some cultures in modern times, "ideology" remains. This
is the vital transformation that happens in this period. Lane Fox gives
you the framework and a lot of the atmosphere. Boethius and Aug. will
show you how it felt to two sophisticated consumers.

4. Brown: The deeper thing that happened in this period is that the
human body and its behaviors became a matter of high social and political
interest. It still is. This is the book about how that happened. In a
religious context, but in ways that go quite beyond any reasonable
definition of religion. This is a book about how we got to be the way we
are as people.

But ok, there's a lot of stuff, so here's the adjustments:

1. delete Plotinus from reading assignments (avail. for extra
interest if you like, makes a good paper topic).

3. Collins: if I didn't already make this clear, you may stop with p.
245 -- no test questions from after that date.

4. Brown: He's harder to slice up, so the assignment of reading all of
him stays, but notice that the more important stuff comes later in the
book; and the earlier part of the book more nearly overlaps some of
what's in the Christian parts of Lane Fox.

5. Gibbon: short assignment (like the Priscus goes to Attila) on the
WWW at end of term.

FOR TOMORROW: On the WWW already on the wola page is an excerpt from
Pliny and Trajan's letters -- one of the papers dealt with these short (2
printed pages) texts. I'll have paper (ecocriminal) copies to hand out
tomorrow and will talk about it in detail, but if you have a look tonight
it will make more sense.

EXAMS AND PAPER:

8 November: contents of Collins 1-245

6 December: second paper, same length. If *possible* the
distinction of one paper about an ancient source, one based on a modern
should be observed, but that's not the most important thing.
Particularly if I've quarreled with your topic or approach this time,
CONSULT ME. Remember as well -- a *privileged* form of paper topic, the
kind I can't quarrel with, is to take somebody *else's* first paper as
your point of departure. Pick up the topic, read that paper
analytically, do additional reading, and carry the discussion forwards.
Requires intelligence, insight, and some tact as well (since people will
read what you say about them).

21 December, 8:30 a.m.: 2 hour exam on everything in the
course, emphasizing the non-Collins readings. Looking for retention of
information and ability to analyze. Essay questions, there will be
choices.